The Prairie Falcons traveled all the way to Tacoma just to watch some softball Friday.
They didn’t get a chance to play.
A heavy dose of rain washed away the late afternoon, early evening softball games at the Class 3A bi-district tournament at Sprinker Recreation Center, pushing the rest of the action to Saturday.
Prairie, the No. 1 seed from the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League, was to play at 6 p.m. for a winner-to-state game. Instead, Prairie will play at 11 a.m. Saturday in the double-elimination part of the bracket.
Mountain View, meanwhile, saw its season end Friday before the rain hit.
Peninsula beat the Thunder 5-4 in the opening round of the tournament, which was the single-elimination part of the bracket.
Bailey Gaspar hit a home run in the fourth inning, and then smashed a two-run triple in the seventh to tie the game.
“There is nobody you would rather have up to bat in that situation, and she proved it,” Mountain View coach Bob Van Horn said.
Peninsula, though, scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to finish the Thunder.
“We’re young. We have one senior (Taylor Hale). Everyone else will be here,” Van Horn said. “I’m looking for big things. We were one play away from going on this year.”
3A bi-district track — Nicole Goecke led a 1-2 Prairie finish in the 1,600 meters Friday at the Class 3A bi-district track and field meet at Shelton High School.
Goecke won in 5:07.57, followed by teammate Lindsay Tompkins in 5:11.47, with both runners earning berths to next week’s state meet.
The 3A bi-district meet continues today, with the top six finishers in each event advancing to state.
Prairie’s James Phillips already has punched two tickets to state, winning the long jump and finishing second in the high jump. He also qualified for the finals in the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles.
Phillips finished behind teammate Josiah Schmidt in the high jump, with Schmidt clearing 5-foot-10.
Joseph Keller of Columbia River led the way as Clark County athletes dominated the boys shot put. Keller won with a mark of 47-11, followed by Prairie’s Jason Bracken while James Niemela of Columbia River finished fourth. All of them qualified for the state meet.
On the track, Columbia River’s Marcus Gaylor qualified second in both the 100 and 200.
1A track — Zach Lacey won the shot put to lead Woodland to a second-place finish at the 1A district meet in Rainier.
Lacey won the shot put with a mark of 46 feet, 73/4 inches. Other local winners included Kyle DeGraaf of La Center (800, 2:01.22), Brandon Campbell of Stevenson (pole vault, 12-0) and Ben Nelson (long jump, 20-3; triple jump, 42-5).
Winners in the girls meet included Callie Crawford of King’s Way Christian (discus, 120-9) and Katie Hebdon of La Center (high jump, 4-10).
3A bi-district tennis — Prairie’s Akari Baba beat Sidney Smith of North Thurston 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals and clinch a state berth. Columbia River Jayne Piboonvaranaggoon was eliminated in the consolation bracket.
In doubles, Mountain View’s doubles team of Milla Benedetti and Emma Raivio need one more win Saturday in the consolation to secure a state beth.
